7/03/2009

THE END OF THE THIRD PART (Fine della terza parte)

Kazakhstan’s KazStroyService has completed the construction of the Kenkiyak-Kumkol pipeline, giving China direct access to Kazakhstan’s oil provinces in western Kazakhstan, Reuters reported citing an announcement by KazStroyService.

The Kenkiyak-Kumkol link is the third part of the so-called Kazakhstan-China pipeline which runs from Atyrau near the Caspian Sea to Alashankou in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. The first stage of the project was completed in 2003 and runs westward across Western Kazakhstan from the oil fields of the Aktobe region to Atyrau. This line will be reversed when all stages are complete. The second stage from Atasu, in northwestern Kazakhstan, to Alashankou was completed in 2006. The newly completed Kenkiyak-Kumkol pipeline will connect the two links and will give China access to CNPC’s Aktobe and Kumkol fields and the newly acquired MangistauMunaiGas upstream assets.

Kazakhstan and China agreed to build the 3,000 km pipeline in 1997 and have said they would later double the capacity of the combined pipeline from the current 10 million tons a year.

China extended a $10-billion loan to Kazakhstan in April in exchange for greater access to the country’s hydrocarbon wealth. Already, with CNPC’s recent purchase of a 50-percent stake in MangistauMunaiGas, China’s share in Kazkahstan’s oil production amounts to 22 percent, a local financial newspaper reported recently citing government data.

China is also building a pipeline to import up to 40 billion cubic meters of Central Asian gas a year. The link originates in Turkmenistan and goes through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.(Silk Road Intelligencer)